Category Archives: Encryption

New partnership brings easy-to-use encryption to Microsoft email users

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The best way to keep data from emails and attachments from falling into the wrong hands is to use some form of encryption. But it needs to be easy to use if it's going to be effective.

Systems integrator and network consultancy BrightPlanIT has announced a partnership with DataMotion that will see it reselling cloud-based solutions for secure email, file transfer, customer contact and forms processing.

For Microsoft customers DataMotion's cloud-hosted services protect email and file attachments from accidental exposure and data theft, and are also offered as an on-premise or hybrid solution.

For some organizations email encryption is a legal requirement to enable them to comply with privacy legislation -- in the healthcare sector for example. DataMotion's solutions feature compliance-grade encryption without the need to install special apps or exchange encryption keys. They enable users to send secure messages and attachments with a single mouse-click, so there's no temptation to look for insecure alternatives and leave the organization open to data loss and fines from regulators.

The partnership with BrightPlanIT focuses on integrating encryption solutions with Microsoft Exchange Server and Office 365.

"Weve had a relationship with BrightPlanIT for a while, and not only do we have great respect for each other's work, we realized that by capitalizing on our strengths and focusing our combined efforts we could offer Microsoft customers something truly unique," says Bob Bales, CEO of DataMotion. "With this partnership, new and existing customers can spend more time handling their business instead of being tied-up in the purchasing process and IT issues".

Skip Gould, CEO of BrightPlanIT says, "This is about getting the job done right, the first time. Concern over data loss is at an all-time high and many new, inexperienced vendors have emerged because they see the market potential. DataMotion has been doing this for a long time and their services protect companies worldwide. Were versed in both DataMotion and Microsoft solutions, can have a customer up-and-running fast, and our experience enables us to support IT in a way that would otherwise consume a great deal of time and effort".

You can find more about DataMotion's SecureMail system on the company's website.

Image Credit:Pixel-3D / Shutterstock

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New partnership brings easy-to-use encryption to Microsoft email users

DiskCryptor Easy Windows System Drive Encryption Tutorial ( Truecrypt Alternative ) – Video

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DiskCryptor Easy Windows System Drive Encryption Tutorial ( Truecrypt Alternative )
In this tutorial I show you how to install DiskCryptor and easily encrypt your windows system drive to protect your desktop or laptop running Microsoft Windows. Download link: https://diskcryptor....

By: TutsTeach

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DiskCryptor Easy Windows System Drive Encryption Tutorial ( Truecrypt Alternative ) - Video

So long, TrueCrypt: 5 alternative encryption tools that can lock down your data

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Open-source legendTrueCrypt may be gone, but the usefulness of full disk encryption carries on. So what's a crypto fan to do now for their encryption needs?

Well, you couldcontinue to use older versions of TrueCrypt if you already have it installed. While the security community wasshocked earlier this week when the anonymous team behind the open source encryption tool seemingly shut down the project, leaving a neutered version 7.2 build of the tool that's only good for decrypting existing TrueCrypt volumes,a public audit of the TrueCrypt source code for version 7.1 was already underway and that effort will continue, according to the Open Crypto Audit Project.

The first phase of the TrueCrypt audit found no serious problems with the Windows build of TrueCrypt.If TrueCrypt 7.1 gets a clean bill of health it would continue to be a viable encryption option, though it's not clear if the encryption tool's development can or will continue under new management.

But if the brouhaha has you feeling skittish, or if you want to move on to encryption software that's actively being developed, options abound. As popular as it is (was?), TrueCrypt is far from the only encryption tool around. In fact, many mainstream operating systems already come with an encryption tool built-in.

Here's a look at a few full disk encryption options that can take the sting out of TrueCrypt's sudden disappearance.

BitLocker is built into select versions of Windows.

The most obvious alternative for Windows users is Microsoft's built-in utility, BitLocker. The encryption program is included in Windows 8 and 8.1 Pro editions, which means anyone who switched to Windows 8 during the $40 upgrade deal has BitLocker on their PC.BitLocker is also available on Windows Vista and 7 PCs running the Ultimate or Enterprise editions.

Check out ourtutorial on BitLockerto get started with Microsoft's encryption tool.

If you don't have the right flavor of Windows, another choice is Symantec Drive Encryption. While this program is just as closed-source as BitLocker, it implements PGP, a well known encryption method.

If you need further reassurances, security expert Bruce Schneier recently told The Register that Symantec's tool is what he's going to use post-TrueCrypt. That's good enough for me. SDE costs $110 for a single user license.

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So long, TrueCrypt: 5 alternative encryption tools that can lock down your data

A beginner’s guide to BitLocker, Windows’ built-in encryption tool

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The creators of TrueCrypt shocked the computer security world this week when they seemingly ended development of the popular open source encryption tool. Even more surprising, the creators said TrueCrypt could be insecure and that Windows users should migrate to Microsoft's BitLocker. Conspiracy theories immediately began to swirl around the surprise announcement.

Regardless of the true motivations behind the message, the TrueCrypt fiasco gives us a chance to talk about BitLockerand how to use it.

BitLocker is Microsoft's easy-to-use, proprietary encryption program for Windows that can encrypt your entire drive as well as help protect against unauthorized changes to your system such as firmware-level malware.

BitLocker is available to anyone who has a machine running Windows Vista or 7 Ultimate, Windows Vista or 7 Enterprise, Windows 8.1 Pro, or Windows 8.1 Enterprise. If you're running an Enterprise edition chances are your PC belongs to a large company so you should discuss enabling BitLocker encryption with your company's IT department.

Most of us buy PCs with the standard version of Windows, which doesn't include BitLocker encryption. But if you upgraded to Windows 8 during the initial rollout of Microsoft's dual-interface OS then you probably have Windows 8 or 8.1 Pro. During the early days of Windows 8 Microsoft was selling cheap Windows 8 Pro upgrade licenses to anyone eligible for an upgrade.

To run BitLocker you'll need a Windows PC running one of the OS flavors mentioned above, plus a PC with at least two partitions and a Trusted Platform Module (TPM).

A TPM is a special chip that runs an authentication check on your hardware, software, and firmware. If the TPM detects an unauthorized change your PC will boot in a restricted mode to deter potential attackers.

If you don't know whether your computer has a TPM or multiple partitions, don't sweat it. BitLocker will run a system check when you start it up to see if your PC can use BitLocker.

Here's the thing about BitLocker: It's a closed source program. That's problematic for extremely privacy-minded folks, since users have no way of knowing if Microsoft was coerced into putting some kind of backdoor into the program under pressure from the U.S. government.

The company says there are no back doors, but how can we be certain? We can't. Sure, if BitLocker was open source most of us wouldn't be able to read the code to determine if there was a backdoor anyway. But somebody out there would be able to meaning there would be a much higher chance of any faults with the program being discovered.

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A beginner's guide to BitLocker, Windows' built-in encryption tool

Encryption tool TrueCrypt may be resurrected by security audit group

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In the wake of the sudden demise of personal encryption tool TrueCrypt, the auditing group who crowd funded an audit of the package may be bringing it back from the grave. Audit group founder and Johns Hopkins professor Matthew Green is reportedly attached to the program, but Green claims that "we're not going to commit to a 'fork' yet."

TrueCrypt was an open-source freeware application used for on-the-fly encryption. It could create a virtual encrypted disk within a file, encrypt a disk partition, or the entire storage device with pre-boot authentication. In the wake of the Snowden revelations, a non-profit agency was crowdfunded and created to audit the utility's encryption methodology, with the first phase of the report having been completed in April.

Speculation about the shutdown yesterday was wide-ranging, with the most prevalent theory being that the shutdown was a "warrant canary," meaning that the group may have received a subpoena from US courts demanding encryption keys. Internet skeptics believe that the group may have chosen to shut down, rather than fight or concede the keys to the court.

Reuters claims that Green and the audit team are continuing the evaluation of the encryption code. Additionally, the group will attempt to de-obfuscate the license and the legal issues surrounding it before publishing a fork to the utility.

By Electronista Staff

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Encryption tool TrueCrypt may be resurrected by security audit group